The Disasters Movie Music Album (Compilation)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Each year it seems like this, one compilation after the other emerges onto the scene, each one having tiny bits of new material with a mass that's already released before. Or mainly its found there because it is hot. Of course, finding the right mix of material and the performance of it is mainly the biggest challenge. Some have failed like The Towering Inferno and other Disaster Classics which had a horrible re recording of Titanic but it seems that in the interest of movie music fans, The Disasters Movie Music Album promises to be better at the end. The compilation of Silva Screen offers us the orchestra (The City of Prague Philharmonic), the choir (The Crouch End Festival Chorus) and the dozens of nature disasters people can associate music to. From Goldsmith to Williams, from Silvestri to Bernstein, from classics to recent releases. It all comes together in an enjoyable package, not always supreme but just offering the right kind of joy to make it interesting.

The effort that always make a compilation better then before are the classics of their time. In a way it opens the score, John Williams' The Towering Inferno offering a nice heroic fanfare as the one that follows its path Titanic which thankfully here receives a beautiful statement. Also a welcome statement was at the time John Barry's suite from Raise The Titanic (now available), it offers a nice representation of his music. I especially like the Earth, Wind & Fire section with great performances on Twister, Dante's Peak (nice end finale) and Volcano. Especially Volcano of Silvestri offers a different 'March of the Lava', it ends differently which makes it frankly somewhat unique. Always a hoot is Goldsmith's main theme of The Swarm with its adventurous sound and usually everywhere these days is Horner's 'The Wedding' from Deep Impact (showing way too much on Compilation scores these days). The rest which includes a lot of classics are good, all feature good to great performances but mainly aren't that special, like Williams' The Poseidon Adventure or Bernstein's Airplane.

One piece to mention yet is Silvestri's The Abyss. It has a special mixed suite featuring the awesome choral magic of the best two tracks on the score. It all is performed with wonder by The Crouch End Festival Chorus and even if its sometimes a bit big, I still like it as the original. I don't know if The Disasters Movie Music Album is that important if you own most of the scores before hand but the main importance is that the performances are extremely solid, the mood never is interrupted by it and the presentation of the pieces make for an enjoyable time. So, I have heard worse compilations before (The Towering Inferno and other Disaster Classics) but this one surely deserved its release. The only thing is, some tracks aren't that supreme but still it is mainly the only negative thing I can mention about this Silva Screen release of the year 1998, and as usual they deliver with it a 12 page booklet with information about the movie and its accompanying music, now this is very positive.

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Tracks

Single Disc

The Towering Inferno (John Williams) Orchestrations by H. Spencer and A. Woodbury

1. Main Title (5.07)

Titanic (James Horner) Orchestrations by N. Raine and M. Ayres

2. Take Her To Sea, Mr. Murdoch (4.25) Excellent Track

The Poseidon Adventure (John Williams) Orchestrations by L. Dominello

3. Prelude (2.55)

The Abyss (Alan Silvestri) Orchestrations by Steve Edwards

4. Theme (5.11) Excellent Track

A Night To Remember (William Alwyn) Orchestrations by P. Lane

5. Main Title (2.35)

A Night To Remember (J.B. Dykes) Orchestrations by P. Lane

6. Nearer My God To Thee (1.42)

Raise The Titanic (John Barry) Orchestrations by N. Raine

7. Suite (8.28) Excellent Track

Daylight (Randy Edelman) Orchestrations by R. Ferraro

8. Latura's Theme (3.05)

9. End Credits (3.29)

Twister (Mark Mancina) Orchestrations by B. Fowler

10. The Big Suck / Oklahoma Wheatfield / Futility (4.52) Excellent Track

Earthquake (John Williams) Orchestrations by L. Dominello

11. Love Theme (3.17)

Dante's Peak (John Frizzell) Orchestrations by J. Atmajian

12. The Rescue (3.02)

Volcano (Alan Silvestri) Orchestrations by C. Pope

13. March Of The Lava (3.21)

14. Cleansing Rain (2.24)

The Swarm (Jerry Goldsmith) Orchestrations by A. Morton

15. The Bees Arrive (4.24)

16. End Credits (3.19)

Deep Impact (James Horner) Orchestrations by J. Bell

17. The Wedding (4.20)

The Hindenburg (David Shire) Orchestrations by D. Shire

18. Main Title (3.05)

The High And The Mighty (Dimitri Tiomkin) Orchestrations by C. Palmer

19. Theme (1.58)

Airplane (Elmer Bernstein) Orchestrations by D. Spear

20. Suite (4.32)

Total Length: 75.56

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